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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Black Omega" data-source="post: 1245375" data-attributes="member: 79">Mindra was guided to his specially prepared room.  Just short of it, Misura stopped him to emphasis “We’re all together in this right?”  his eyes so bright and intense.  That feral growling growing more pronounced as he spoke “Give me your word, Vanara to Vanara.  Tommorrow you’ll teleport me to your city.”“Of course, I swear it.”  Mindra replied.“Excellent.”  Misura growled, “I’m sure you’ll find the room to your liking.”Mindra entered the room but he knew instantly something was wrong.  He could not see any spirits.  None at all.  No tainted, friendly, hostile spirits.  This was something he’d never encountered before.  He puzzled over it for several seconds, until he heard the door close behind him, the locks efficiently slamming into place.  The room was obviously built for a Vanara, places to climb and swing and even a lost for sleeping.  But a fast test revealed Mindra’s magic was not working at all.Mindra started calling out for Misura and pounding on the door until the feral Vanara returned.  A small section of the wooden door slid aside, just enough to show Misura’s eyes, the Vanara obviously hanging from the ceiling by his feet, swaying.“I can’t take you back to my city if I can’t pray to the spirits for my spells.  I can’t do that in here.”  Mindra explained.Misura’s eyes squinted then the Vanara gave a short laugh “Oh, that’s true!  How foolish of me.  I suppose, since you can’t do it, Hawk will need another Vanara to take him back.  Don’t worry, I’ll help your friend out.”Just as the place slide closed on the door Mindra could hear Misura’s chortling “Vanara to Vanara, can’t believe he fell for that.”~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~While Mindra was spending an unpleasant day in the Centaur Nation, Toshiro was swaggering around and enjoying the reaction his reputation was giving.  Many samurai were rigidly polite with him.  Most commoners scurried to do whatever he wanted. And today while on patrol he was stopped by a scruffy ronin.  The master less samurai walked right up, bowing deeply “Lord Toshiro.  I’ve heard many things about you.  It would be a pleasure to serve with your Thunderguards.  As a token of my sincere loyalty, I’ve brought you this.”The box contained the head of a local merchant.  “I overheard him saying you ran into his shop and hid there during the battle with the Black Snakes.  Obviously a commoner telling such lies doesn’t deserve life.  I swear to always be this attentive to your honor, Lord Toshiro.”Toshiro considered it a moment.  But then nodded “Very well.  I accept you into my service.  We’ll go back to Thunderguard headquarters and get you set up.  What’s your name?”The ronin’s name was Kuma.  Toshiro resolved to keep the ronin close.  He was a little suspicious.  But not half so suspicious as some of the other members of Bansho Kishu when they heard about it.  They knew the merchant was probably foolish, but had also been telling the truth.  It was at this point Mir gave up on her charm offensive to try and win the merchant’s of Toshiro’s area back over to him.~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Verick was also having a good day.  His report had been well received.  And during a break in training, his master said he had good news.“You understand, it’s been a difficult year for the Lion.  We have few allies.  Many enemies.  And we find ourselves on the same side as the Scorpion Clan when it comes to Akodo Kaneka.  During a conversation with Bayushi Kaukatsu, your name came up.  You’ve been making something of a reputation for yourself.  And as you know, with your father dead it falls to me, your sensei, to negotiate for your wedding.”  Akodo Setei said, his emotions carefully hidden.This news was a little worrisome.  Not as much as it would previously, Verick had been growing very close to Bayushi Sakura.  But Setei was being very serious and that usually meant trouble.“So, it was decided to begin negotiations with the Scorpion Clan.  The lady it was suggested you would marry is Shosuro Yasuko.  A very devious and cunning courtier, I’m told, with quite a reputation.”  Setei-sensei didn’t elaborate on the reputation, simply going on “It’ll be a while before this is resolved.  Negotiations like this always take months to finish.  It’s our hope you will have a chance to meet your fiancé before the wedding.”Verick had always known he was going to be involved in an arranged marriage at some point.  But he had hoped not quite so soon.  Nor to a Scorpion he had never met.  He might have welcomed the news if it involved Sakura.  But now he was just worried.~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Kaz was out on patrol, he had a few things to check in on.  He had been developing his plan to bring in tough friends from Bugaisha to infiltrate the local criminal element.  Coming up on one of his favorite sake houses, he was distracted by an older merchant calling out “Kaz-sama!  If you have a moment, your new set of sake cups is ready!”  He didn’t have any such thing on order, but as he went over to check out the items the merchant whispered “I saw several rough looking men go into the alley by the sake house.  Maybe it’s a criminal deal.  Maybe it’s an ambush.  I figured you would want to know.”Kaz thanked the merchant then walked on up to the area where the ronin had gone.  They charged out from the alley, the ambush sprung.  And was over in seconds.  Kaz’s katana flashed out with lethal effect and some impressive slashes quickly dealt with the charging ronin, save for one Kaz saved for interrogation.Kaz also made a point to secretly drop a thank you note to the shopkeeper.~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Meanwhile, at the estate, Volar had received a letter.Volar-san,If you would care to do a little business, we are interested in meeting for a discussion.  We need someone to travel to Bugaisha, secretly.  Meet with someone, then leave.  All you’d have to do is drop him off at some safe spot.  Wait an hour, then bring him back to here.  We would pay a 1,000 koku for the trip.  Let us know if you are interested.                            Otsuka the Butcher                            Head Chef of the Dead RatInstantly, Volar was paranoid.  His natural state of late.  It was probably a trap to catch him.  And why were they approaching him?  Why did they think he could do this?  Why did they think he –would- do this?  This merited more investigation.  Volar’s reply was to the point.  10,000 koku, no less.  The swift replay was an attempt to bargain it to 8,000.  But Volar would have none of it.  He demanded 10,000.  And they agreed.  Now he was –really- paranoid.  He’d hoped to price himself out of their reach.  And they had agreed.~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Mir went to visit the Ide.  Specifically Ide Masaaki, the one she had snubbed earlier.  To make sure there was no question of her not trusting him, she went to his house.  Mir made an effort to explain the troubles the group had been through at the time of his attempt to speak to her, all the attacks they had been under.  Masaaki smoothly understood.  Bansho Kishu had been through many fights.  And if there was an attack at that moment, Mir would not have felt capable of protecting him.  He could accept this.In fact, Ide Masaaki had an offer.  The Ide had been keeping an eye on Mir.  She was showing great promise as a diplomat.  Perhaps she should consider how much more promising her prospects would be if she swore to the Ide rather than the Shinjo.  Mir wasn’t terribly flattered by this offer.  She already served the Shinjo, after all.  And had just arranged an attack on the Ide.Masaaki went on, explaining that the tie with the Shinjo was no trouble.  He knew Lord Jyaku was very fond of Mir, he had been consulted before this offer was decided upon.  He obviously wishes the best for Mir and it would surely be a step up for Mir to leave a family dishonored long ago, reviled throughout the empire, and swear to a family universally respected.  Mir agreed she would think about it.  But secretly she had no intention at all of accepting.~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Back in the centaur lands, Hawk was consulting with a family Advisor, who did not have happy news.  Lord Lionheart was very popular in the Centauir Nation and considered a great hero.  The two humans, one who was Rokugani and female, the other of whom was male, were staying in the main fort of the Centaur as royal guests, so the advisor asked that Hawk be polite.In fact, the young Unicorn was easy to be polite to, she was eerily cheerful.  The human man was no where to be seen and Hawk quickly forgot about him.  The young lady, named Iuchi Yoenki, agreed the King could be tainted but claimed she had no familiarity with such things.  She suggested Hawk try to bring an Iuchi shugenja more familiar with taint.  She also strongly recommended no Scorpion Shugenja.  After all, they are so suspicious, you just can’t trust them. In fact, Hawk had almost instantly decided he could not trust the young Unicorn shugenja, a fact he later revealed to the advisor.~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~While Hawk was busy ‘socializing’ Mindra was busy as well.  His magic was not working.  But he still had a couple of smoke bombs left over from long ago.  And he could still communicate with his ancestral spirits, after a fashion.  Not like he usually could.  But enough to pass a message along to Verick warning him that Mindra was trapped in an area where he could not cast magic and the other Vanara that teleports Hawk back is not going to be him.The group prepared for the return of the monkey and centaur.  They consulted with Lord Jyaku, set up guards over the open squares of the city.  Volar even send off a sending to Hawk to suggest the centaur have the Vanara take them back to a safe area at the Bansho Kishu estates.  The response from Hawk was “Damn it!  We just arrived in the Plum Orchard Square.  Get over here fast!”  Fast indeed, though Hawk had asked the fake Mindra to wait, the monkey immediately teleported away again and returned with the two Centaur guards Lionheart had insisted Hawk would need.  Added on to the two centaur servants Hawk had wanted for his Centaur ‘embassy’ he was trying to set up that were brought over on the first jump. The presense of all those centaurs in the square had instantly triggered screams and yells from the commoners around, many running off to summon the Thunderguards.  Others simply running away.  Bansho Kishu teleported into this confusion and in an instant Volar cast a Web over the fake Mindra and the two centaur guards.  Then just to make sure it was a fake Mindra, Volar also called out “Sorry, we were warned you might not be the real Mindra.  Can you show us the Lion dance?”Of course, the real Mindra would not do the Lion Dance.  And if this was the real Mindra under a domination that might even be enough to allow him to escape.  Sadly, with the Web in the way, they could not see Mindra.  But from inside they heard “I’ll show you the Lion Dance!”  And then in a sing song voice “Have you ever seen a monkey dance/Have you ever seen him caper and prance.”.Bansho Kishu  as group just stared for a moment before someone said “Ok, that’s NOT Mindra…”Even so, the Vanara escaped the Web easily and tried to escape.  The two centaur guards in the web were freed by Hawk.  Angry as the guards were, Hawk ordered them to stand down and reluctantly they did.  They were clearly spoiling for a fight though.The battle against the fake Mindra was more of a chase.  An attempt at summoning a Dire Ape was Dismissed.  Mir then Volar fixed the monkey with dimensional anchors while he tried to dispel his way free.  Tough as the monkey was, there was simply to much magic holding him in place and he was no match for Kaz, Toshiro and Verick.  The monkey was savagely cut down in the street.As the Vanara lay there dead, one of the people watching said in surprise “They killed Mindra...”</blockquote>

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